


Drowning

by suneye



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Kissing, Pining, author has no idea how the fashion industry works, fashion designer/model au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 15:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16349153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suneye/pseuds/suneye
Summary: Clary knew she was a goner from the moment Isabelle Lightwood stepped into her workshop.(Based on a tumblr prompt from anonymous: "Au where Clary's a closeted fashion designer and Izzy's her model")





	Drowning

Clary knew she was a goner from the moment Isabelle Lightwood stepped into her workshop. Clary had been working on a new design when the woman walked in like she owned the place, introduced herself as “Izzy, looking forward to modelling for you”, and hugged Clary in greeting as if they were old friends.

She had inspired a strange feeling inside Clary. A weird mixture of affection and inadequacy, because Izzy was beautiful and smart and confident in the way she spoke and the way she posed and the way she linked her arm with Clary’s when there was no reason to. Clary always felt a little lost around her, but in a good way. The way you felt when you first dove into cold water and didn’t know which way was which for a moment, that split second before the shock of the cold and the need for oxygen caught up with you. Disoriented. Weightless. Surrounded entirely by something bigger and more powerful than yourself.

Clary had tried to fight those feelings at first - not only would it have been unprofessional to be crushing on one of the models working with her, but there was also the matter of Izzy being a woman.

Clary had known for a while that she could never be happy with a man, so the surge of feelings for a kind and beautiful woman who always held her gaze or her hand for just a split second too long wasn’t exactly a surprise. The problem was that nobody else knew. Not her friends, not her parents, not the businesses that looked forward to and bought her designs, and certainly not Izzy.

So she tried to stay afloat, focusing on her dresses and her fashion shows instead of the way Izzy would fix her hair behind her ear when Clary was too focused to notice herself that it had fallen out of place.

It was almost working. And then, mere hours before Izzy was to go on the runway with Clary’s newest line, it suddenly wasn’t working at all.

“Do you like me?” Izzy asked as Clary finished marking up the long silver dress she was wearing for adjustments.

“Hm?” Clary stood, gesturing to her to take off the dress.

Izzy reached behind her to pull down the zipper, and Clary looked away. “I said, do you like me?”

“Of course I like you,” Clary said. “You’re the best model I’ve ever had.”

She could almost hear Izzy’s proud smile. A second later, Izzy was at her side, holding out the dress to her with her hair pulled over one shoulder and the front of her silk robe left open. “That’s not what I meant,” Izzy said. She was close enough that Clary could feel her warmth. She didn’t elaborate, but the glint in her brown eyes said it all.

“Oh,” Clary breathed, her mind racing so fast it wasn’t working at all. Her heart beating so fast she might as well be dead.

“Well?” Izzy stepped even closer. Their chests were almost touching now. They were breathing the same air.

Clary didn’t answer. She just put her hands on either side of Isabelle’s face and crashed their lips together.

Izzy made a cut-off sound of surprise before throwing the dress somewhere over the desk and using her hands instead to grab Clary’s hips, pulling their bodies closer. Their lips, parted and gasping for breath, moved in sync, and Clary was lost. In Izzy’s heat, in her scent, in her touch.

She was drowning, and she didn’t mind.

The kiss ended far too soon, at the sound of Clary’s phone buzzing of all things. She gently pushed a very eager Isabelle off of her and reached for her phone. She decided very quickly as she read the text that it could wait, but the time caught her attention.

She turned back to Izzy, who was leaning against the desk, cheeks flushed, smiling, waiting patiently. “Iz, we should get ready for the show. I still have to fix the dress.”

Izzy’s face fell. Maybe she had expected this to continue. Maybe she had expected a proper confession, one that Clary was not ready to give her. Either way, she didn’t say - just pushed herself off the desk and mumbled an affirmation, heading for the door.

“Wait,” Clary called after her. She briefly thought that Izzy’s confidence must be contagious, because the next words out of her mouth were, “What do you say we leave the afterparty early and…hang out at my place?”

Izzy’s smile returned, slowly at first but lighting up her face in no time. She walked back to Clary and let their fingers brush. “That sounds amazing.”


End file.
